CzechToll and SkyToll shall be the new toll system operator from 2020

CzechToll and SkyToll shall be the new toll system operator from 202011/4/2018|Press releases

The public procurement called "Electronic Toll System" has its winner. With the price CZK 10.75 billion, the companies CzechToll and SkyToll shall be collecting and maintaining the toll system on Czech motorways and category I roads for ten years. This was decided by the Ministry of Transport based on the recommendation of the commission which evaluated four bids. The ministry of transport Dan Ťok informed the members of the Babiš government about the winner today. Now the other bidders in the tender can raise objections. Also the Office for the Protection of Competition will be deciding about the possibility of signing the contract with the winner.

Following the recommendation of the bid evaluation commission, the Ministry of Transport chose the CzechToll and SkyToll consortium also based on the conclusions of the project manager who evaluated the preliminary offer and recommended it as the best one, error-free and capable of operating the toll system. CzechToll and SkyToll also provided all information and inputs needed before the contract can be signed, in accordance with the public procurement law. Under this law, nothing was preventing us from announcing the tender winner", says Dan Ťok, the transport minister.

The consortium of these companies wins with the price CZK 10.75 billion excluding VAT and should operate the toll system from 2020 for another ten years. The expected value of the supply and the ten-year operation of the electronic toll system, including an extension of the network subject to toll by 900 km, was budgeted in the project as CZK 29 billion, which corresponds to the rates of the existing toll system operator.

This is however not the end of the electronic toll system tender yet. I notified the government that the Office for the Protection of Competition is reviewing the tender and we are not allowed to sign any contract with the winner. At the same time, we can expect that the loosing bidders will raise objections against the selection of the best bid. We except the contract to be signed in the autumn, so that the new operator has 14 months for preparation and subsequent take-over of the electronic toll system unless the whole procurement is cancelled," minister Ťok adds.

The Ministry of Transport also notified the government about their analysis of alternative solutions to the public procurement for the electronic toll system. According to this analysis, any other option but letting this existing procurement be finished is problematic, because implementation does not start before 2021, i.e. more than 18 months after the end of the contract with the existing toll system operator.

The Ministry of Transport announced the tender for the toll system operator after 2019 in June 2017 with such parameters as required by the government. The ministry says that the preliminary offers of four qualified bidders showed that the tender terms were comprehensible and allowed the bidders to file their bids.

The Ministry of Transport wants to sign the contract with the new operator until the autumn of this year. After that, the operator will have 14 months for the take-over of the system, for testing and launching the electronic toll from January 2020. The expected toll revenue from motorways and category I roads should be around CZK 140 to 150 billion during the ten-year term.

Please note: The public procurement law does not allow informing the public about the content of preliminary bids as part of the so-called "negotiation proceedings with publishing". This means that the Ministry of Transport cannot comment on or publish any details on the participants in the tender and/or more specific information on preliminary bids until the end of the procurement.